Crown Castle Inc. $CCI Shares Sold by Cullen Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• Cullen Capital Management reduced its Crown Castle stake by 5.8% in the fourth quarter, selling 65,361 shares and leaving it with 1,066,389 shares worth about $94.77 million.
• Crown Castle reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings, posting $1.02 EPS versus the $0.47 consensus estimate, while revenue of $1.01 billion also slightly topped forecasts.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.0625 per share, implying an annualized yield of 4.6%, and analysts currently rate the stock a Moderate Buy with an average price target of $98.52.

Cullen Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,066,389 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 65,361 shares during the quarter. Cullen Capital Management LLC owned 0.24% of Crown Castle worth $94,770,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CCI. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth about $594,670,000. Cohen & Steers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 39,790,292 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $3,536,214,000 after purchasing an additional 3,953,685 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 591.8% during the third quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 4,471,120 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $431,418,000 after purchasing an additional 3,824,778 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 422.5% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,581,154 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $318,258,000 after purchasing an additional 2,895,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 40.5% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 7,159,803 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $636,292,000 after purchasing an additional 2,065,247 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CCI opened at $92.02 on Friday. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1 year low of $75.96 and a 1 year high of $115.76. The firm has a market cap of $40.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.03, a PEG ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 0.93. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $89.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.72.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.55. Crown Castle had a negative return on equity of 64.64% and a net margin of 25.13%.The business had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.42 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.10 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Crown Castle has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.380-4.490 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. Crown Castle's payout ratio is presently 175.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CCI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Crown Castle in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a "hold" rating and a $90.00 price objective on the stock. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Crown Castle from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Crown Castle from $91.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Wolfe Research lowered Crown Castle from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on Crown Castle from $102.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $98.52.

Crown Castle Company Profile

Crown Castle is a U.S.-focused communications infrastructure company organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and leases shared wireless infrastructure. Its primary business consists of providing tower-based site leases, small cell networks and fiber solutions that support mobile voice and data transmission for wireless carriers, cable companies and other enterprise customers. The company's assets are positioned to enable network coverage and capacity, including the densification projects associated with 4G LTE and 5G deployments.

Its product and service offerings include ground-based tower sites that host multiple wireless operators, distributed small cell nodes and associated fiber backhaul used to connect sites into carrier networks, and site development and maintenance services.

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